Senior/Staff Behavior Planning Engineer

<h3><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Who we are</span></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics, is revolutionizing the B2B supply chain with its autonomous transportation-as-a-service (ATaaS) solution and prioritizing safe, consistent deliveries while streamlining freight movement by reducing congestion. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers and in 2021 launched the world’s first fully driverless commercial transportation service with Walmart. Gatik's Class 3-7 autonomous trucks are commercially deployed across major markets, including Texas, Arkansas, and Ontario, Canada, driving innovation in freight transportation.&nbsp;</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">The company's proprietary Level 4 autonomous technology, Gatik Carrier™, is custom-built to transport freight safely and efficiently between pick-up and drop-off locations on the middle mile. With robust capabilities in both highway and urban environments, Gatik Carrier™ serves as an all-encompassing solution that integrates advanced software and hardware powering the fleet, facilitating effortless integration into customers' logistics operations.&nbsp;</span></p> <h3><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">About the role</span></h3> <div> <div> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">We’re seeking Senior or Staff Engineers to help build the core behavior planning system for autonomous vehicles, enabling safe and intelligent decision-making. The role involves designing behavior tree architectures, developing robust C++ infrastructure, collaborating across autonomy teams, evaluating planner performance, and providing technical leadership within the team.</span></p> </div> <div><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">This role is onsite 5 days a week at our Mountain View, CA office!</span></div> </div> <div> <h3 class="section page-centered"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><strong>What you'll do</strong></span></h3> <div class="section page-centered"> <ul> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Design, implement, and maintain the core behavior planning system for autonomous vehicles, enabling intelligent, interpretable, and safe decision-making in complex real-world scenarios.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Develop and extend behavior tree architectures for hierarchical decision logic, including support for mission planning, tactical maneuvers, and contingency handling.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Collaborate closely with the motion planning, prediction, and control teams to ensure seamless transitions from high-level decisions to executable trajectories.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Build and optimize C++-based software infrastructure for behavior planning, including tools for simulation, debugging, visualization, and closed-loop testing.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Evaluate planner performance in diverse real-world and simulated environments; identify failure modes and develop strategies to improve robustness and generalization.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Participate in design reviews and system integration across the full autonomy stack.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and architectural guidance for junior team members.</li> </ul> </div> <h3 class="section page-centered"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><strong>What we're looking for</strong></span></h3> <div class="section page-centered" data-qa="closing-description"> <ul> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Ph.D. with 3+ years or Master’s with 5+ years of industry experience in robotics, autonomous systems, or behavior planning.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Proven experience in behavior planning, including use of behavior trees, finite state machines, or rule-based planners in autonomous driving or robotics applications.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Strong proficiency in C++ with a deep understanding of performance, memory management, and software architecture in production systems.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Solid understanding of motion planning and prediction interfaces, with experience building real-time, safety-critical systems.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Knowledge of diffusion models and/or Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models is a strong plus.</li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; text-align: left;">Strong debugging, system thinking, and collaborative communication skills.</li> </ul> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Salary Range - $180,000- $260,000</span></p> <h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">More about Gatik</span></h3> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Founded in 2017 by experts in autonomous vehicle technology, Gatik has rapidly expanded its presence to Mountain View, Dallas-Fort Worth, Arkansas, and Toronto. As the <em>first and only</em> company to achieve fully driverless middle-mile commercial deliveries, Gatik holds a unique and defensible position in the AV industry, with a clear trajectory toward sustainable growth and profitability.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">We have delivered complete, proprietary AV technology - an integration of software and hardware - to enable earlier successes for our clients in constrained Level 4 autonomy.&nbsp; By choosing the middle mile – with defined point-to-point delivery, we have simplified some of the more complex AV challenges, enabling us to achieve full autonomy ahead of competitors. Given extensive knowledge of Gatik’s well-defined, fixed route ODDs and hybrid architecture, we are able to hyper-optimize our models with exponentially less data, establish gate-keeping mechanisms to maintain explainability, and ensure continued safety of the system for unmanned operations.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Visit us at <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://gatik.ai/">Gatik</a></span> for more company information and <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://gatik.ai/careers/">Careers at Gatik</a></span> for more open roles.</span></p> <h3><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Notable News</span></h3> <ul> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Bloomberg: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-27/autonomous-trucking-firm-gatik-inks-contracts-worth-600-million">Autonomous Trucking Firm Gatik Inks Contracts Worth $600 Million</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Forbes: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2026/01/28/hundreds-of-gatik-robot-delivery-trucks-headed-for-us-roads/?utm_campaign=ForbesMainLI&amp;utm_source=ForbesMainLinkedIn&amp;utm_medium=social">Hundreds’ Of Gatik Robot Delivery Trucks Headed For U.S. Roads</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Forbes:<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbishop1/2025/09/23/gatik-and-loblaw-announce-largest-commercial-deployment-of-av-trucks/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Gatik And Loblaw Announce Largest Commercial Deployment Of AV Trucks</span></a></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Forbes:&nbsp;<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2023/09/05/forget-robotaxis-upstart-gatik-sees-middle-mile-deliveries-as-the-path-to-profitable-avs/?sh=52b7a7866e61">Forget robotaxis. Upstart Gatik sees middle-mile deliveries as the path to profitable AVs</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Tech Brew: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.emergingtechbrew.com/stories/2024/09/06/gatik-ai-richard-steiner-regulations-av-industry">Gatik AI exec unpacks the regulations that could shape the AV industry</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Business Wire: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241008155613/en/Gatik-Paves-the-Way-for-Safe-Driverless-Operations-%E2%80%98Freight-Only%E2%80%99-at-Scale-with-Industry-First-Third-Party-Safety-Assessment-Framework">Gatik Paves the Way for Safe Driverless Operations (‘Freight-Only’) at Scale with Industry-First Third-Party Safety Assessment Framework</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Auto Futures: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.autofutures.tv/news-features/autonomous-trucking-group-gatik-secures-investment-from-nippon-express-holdings/s/e125e5df-220b-42b6-b2df-754f54d602a9">Autonomous Trucking Group Gatik Secures Investment From NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Automotive News: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.autonews.com/mobility-report/gatik-prepares-launch-self-driving-trucks-scale">Gatik foresees hundreds of self-driving trucks on road soon, and that's just the beginning</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Forbes: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbishop1/2024/05/30/isuzu-and-gatik-go-all-in-to-scale-up-driverless-freight-services/">Isuzu And Gatik Go All In To Scale Up Driverless Freight Services</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Bloomberg: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-05-24/autonomous-vehicle-startup-takes-off-by-picking-off-easier-routes">Autonomous Vehicle Startup Takes Off by Picking Off Easier Routes</a></span></span></li> <li style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Reuters: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/driverless-vehicles-limited-routes-bump-along-despite-us-robotaxi-scrutiny-2023-12-13/">Driverless vehicles on limited routes bump along despite US robotaxi scrutiny</a></span></span></li> </ul> <h3><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">Taking care of our team</span></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">At Gatik, we connect people of extraordinary talent and experience to an opportunity to create a more resilient supply chain and contribute to our environment’s sustainability. We are diverse in our backgrounds and perspectives yet united by a bold vision and shared commitment to our values. Our culture emphasizes the importance of collaboration, respect and agility.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;">We at Gatik strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone feels they have opportunities to succeed and grow because we know that together we can do great things. We are committed to an inclusive and diverse team. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p> </div> </div>